I went into First-Time Caller expecting a cute romance with a fun premise. What I got was that, plus a whole city that felt like a character in its own right.

The setup delivers exactly what it promises: a romance hotline, a jaded host who clearly has opinions about love that he hasn’t examined too closely, a matchmaking daughter who sees everything her dad refuses to, and enough banter to carry you through the whole book without ever feeling like it’s running out of steam. Lucie and Aiden have the kind of chemistry that makes you root for them even when they’re being idiots about it.

But here’s the thing. The banter is the hook, not the whole story. What keeps you reading is every other character in this book. The family. The friends. The community that surrounds Lucie and Aiden and apparently has strong feelings about their situation before either of them admits they do. Everyone feels lived-in, like Borison knew exactly who these people were before she started writing them. That’s harder to pull off than it sounds, and she pulls it off.

The Baltimore setting works the same way. You don’t just watch two people fall in love. You watch a city fall in love with them falling in love. It’s warm without being saccharine.

And then there’s Jackson. I finished this book already annoyed that I had to wait for his story. The good news: I didn’t have to wait long. The sequel just dropped, and I’m starting it immediately.

Rating: Recommended. First one I mention.